


Domino Effect 1

by lhigginns67



Category: Sarah Jane Adventures
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-23
Updated: 2020-07-23
Packaged: 2021-03-05 07:14:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25466842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lhigginns67/pseuds/lhigginns67
Summary: It all started with a decidedly unlovely discovery in Bloomin’ Lovely...
Comments: 3
Kudos: 4





	1. Chapter 1

Sarah Jane placed her files to the side of her computer. She sighed. Terribly slow news day. No alien encounters or such, since last month. Good news for her; bad news for Clyde and Rani, who were in the throes of exams, anyway. No word from Luke recently, either. Although, since he and Sanjay had upped sticks to Canada six months ago, it was the new normal. Luke was getting on with his life, having moved on from the adventures of Bannerman Road. It seemed Rani and Clyde would follow suit - Clyde had enthused particular interest in the art college up in Manchester, whilst journalism was still irrefutably on Rani’s cards. As the time stretched on to one o’clock on an rather overcast Saturday, Sarah Jane realised she hadn’t eaten since seven this morning. She wasn’t that peckish though, with two articles from yesterday still to complete. Nothing as extraordinary as a Sontaran pod in the forest, or MITRE headsets at the Pharos Institute, unfortunately. Or perhaps in this case, fortunately.   
No doubt Rani would wriggle from the clutches of revision. Clyde wouldn’t have the same luck, browsing colleges with his mum over the weekend.   
Sarah Jane glanced at Mr Smith’s screen, which displayed the Lunchtime news.   
‘...has said there will be no further enquiries at present. Sport on the way, with-‘  
‘Turn that off, Mr Smith.’  
He complied, and the screen returned to the standard rotating crystals. Slow news day, indeed. 

‘Oh, do stop fussing, Haresh. We can enjoy the finer things for one night.’  
Gita stood over the sink, filling a jug with water. She glanced occasionally at Haresh, busy with his morning press-ups. No sign of Rani yet - her morning didn’t start till ten.  
Haresh sighed.   
‘The world’s not going to end without one night of your culinary delights.’  
Haresh stopped, and sat up.   
‘Is that supposed to make me feel better?’  
Gita blew him a raspberry, and headed for her plants. The kitchen door opened.   
‘Good morning, my darling,’ Gita chirped to the girl wrapped in her dressing gown.   
Rani yawned, heading for the cupboard.   
‘So what time are you two heading out tonight, then?’  
‘About six,’ Haresh replied, taking a drink of water. ‘We’ll try not to be too late.’  
Rani reached for the corn flakes.   
‘It’s a shame Sarah’s never been interested,’ Gita said. ‘She must get a bit lonely sometimes.’  
Rani shook her her head, munching on a spoonful of corn flakes.  
‘Sarah Jane’s fine. Going to give Clyde a ring, later.’  
Haresh head for the door.   
‘Who’ll actually be making good use of his time, for once,’ he remarked.   
Rani tutted, and began washing up.   
‘Oh, it’s going to be so romantic,’ Gita said eagerly.   
Rani shot her a smile.   
Oh, without a doubt.


	2. Chapter 2

Conquest by soft drink. Only one species had tried it before. Sarah Jane looked at Mr Smith’s screen.   
‘Red alert. Red alert. Bane are attempting to lock down on this attic.’  
It seemed Sarah Jane was a rather infamous name among their race. Were they avenging Mrs Wormwood?   
‘Move them to the nearest uninhabited area - quickly.’  
‘Complying.’  
Why else would they come directly to Sarah Jane? Whatever plans they had, she would have to put paid to them. Without anyone’s help this time. Rani had enough to occupy her today. Mr Smith’s screen showed that the Bane relocation was...Twenty-Six Chalsey Grove? That seemed vaguely familiar.   
‘How many of them are there, Mr Smith?’  
‘Six.’  
Six too many, she thought.   
As Sarah Jane shut her front door, she felt herself suppress a sigh, as Rani strode across from number thirty-six.   
‘Shouldn’t you be revising?’  
‘Just taking a break,’ Rani replied, noting the urgency in Sarah Jane’s demeanour. ‘What’s up with you, then?’  
Sarah Jane paused. Considering Rani’s ordeal with the Bane previously, perhaps she was entitled to know about this.   
‘What time are you expected back?’

Twenty minutes had passed, and only now had they located the house. Sarah Jane knew the address had seemed familiar. That couple who had claimed Luke was their missing son. The semi-detached white house had been unoccupied for the last ten months. Time to confront these Bane.   
‘They get fed up of factories, then?’  
Sarah Jane and Rani approached the front door. Perhaps they had learnt from the previous times.   
‘Looks like it,’ replied Sarah Jane.   
The wooden finish appeared to have been greatly fading away - a definite sign of the last time someone lived here. Sarah Jane studied the front of the house.   
‘We’ll try the back.’

A short time later, they climbed in through a large window, Sarah Jane first, then Rani. Easily done - almost too easy. Everything was rather beige. Even the kitchen around them. Why choose here? Why this address? As they walked forward, Sarah Jane held up her wrist.   
‘Anything?’ Rani asked.   
Sarah Jane’s eyes were fixed on her watch.   
‘No. Strangely.’  
The front door opened. Sarah Jane closed her scanner, and the two of them froze. That must have-  
‘...only a bit of milk, Duncan. Don’t cry about it.’  
An Indian man, of average height and well built, followed by a taller plump man, appeared in the hallway. The former wore a navy overcoat, along with rather formal attire. The latter simply wore a t-shirt and shorts.   
‘I don’t care, Raj. It’s not...’  
He looked at Sarah Jane and Rani.   
‘Who are you?’  
Sarah Jane folded her arms.   
‘Oh, I think you know.’  
As she caught the men’s baffled expressions, she glanced at her watch.   
‘We do?’ Duncan asked.   
‘And where the other four are, I imagine,’ Sarah Jane sniped. ‘So, what is it this time? Another invasion? Avenging Wormwood?’  
Raj approached the telephone by the door.   
‘That’s it. The police are going to have you for trespassing.’  
He began to dial.   
‘Not before the Judoon have you, I hope.’  
He stopped.   
‘The what?’  
‘Sarah Jane,’ Rani whispered. ‘You watch, has it-‘  
‘No.’  
‘Maybe they’ve moved.’  
Maybe so.   
‘I’m sorry, this has all been a terrible misunderstanding.’  
The words couldn’t come out fast enough. Raj replaced the phone. Duncan folded his arms. Raj stared at Sarah Jane.   
‘We’ll just be going,’ she continued, and began heading for the front door. ‘I’m sor-‘  
Raj shook his head.   
‘You got in easy enough. I’m sure you can leave the same way.’  
Sarah Jane glanced at the window behind them. Rani looked at them.   
‘You are having a laugh.’  
Neither Duncan or Raj budged.   
Sarah Jane looked once more at the window, then the two men.   
‘Come on, Rani.’


	3. Chapter 3

‘Where do you think they might be?’  
Rani and Sarah Jane sat in Sarah Jane’s car, parked just outside her house. Sarah Jane folded her arms.   
‘Not sure, but wherever it is, it must’ve slipped off Mr Smith’s radar.’  
‘What should we do?’  
Rani had exams soon, but this - whatever it was that the Bane wanted - could put paid to that. To everything, for that matter.   
‘What time are you parents heading out at?’  
‘About six.’  
‘Come over when they’ve gone,’ Sarah Jane replied. ‘We’ll maybe have something by then.’  
Rani opened her door.   
‘Poor Clyde, missing all the fun,’ she chuckled.   
Sarah Jane nodded, and they both climbed out. There was nothing fun about this. 

The doorbell rang. Quarter past six.   
‘The taxi only just turned up, sorry.’  
Sarah Jane closed her front door behind them.   
‘Said they’ll try not to be back any later than nine,’ Rani continued. ‘But you know what Mum’s like.’  
They headed up the stairs, in her ever quiet house, broken only by the same two creaking step at the top.   
‘They said to call if there’s any problems,’ Rani continued, sitting on the attic sofa.   
Sarah Jane nodded, standing before the supercomputer in the wall.   
‘Mr Smith. I need you.’  
The Xylok roared into life, along with all of the usual fanfare.   
‘Yes, Sarah Jane. What can I do for you?’  
‘Give me a location of the Bane,’ she replied.   
‘Complying.’  
Sarah Jane and Rani watched.   
‘They are located-‘  
Ring, ring.   
Rani looked at her phone.   
‘Mum? Mum, what’s wrong?’  
‘Rani, something strange...down at the shop...’  
‘The shop - aren’t you at the re-‘  
‘Rani, please come down, please-‘  
‘Okay, okay - just calm down, I’ll be there as quick as I can.’  
She hung up, and between the two of them, Sarah Jane didn’t know who was panicking the most.   
‘It has to be the B-‘  
Sarah Jane motioned for the door, and they rushed out of the attic. What if they were too late?

The car sped along the half-empty road. What would the Bane have wanted with Rani’s parents? Rani must have been going out of her mind. It was most unlikely to have been Wormwood again.   
‘No answer.’  
Oh, no. The one night Gita and Haresh were supposed to enjoy. The car stopped just outside the shop. Sarah Jane and Rani climbed out and rushed over to the shop door, as Rani scrambled to unlock it. They entered. And stopped.   
A body lay across the floor. Not Gita, or Haresh. It couldn’t be. Harry Sullivan.   
‘Mum, is that you? Are you all right?’  
How could it be him?   
‘You’re sure? No, just...okay, see you then. Love you. Bye.’  
How did he look the same all these years later? It wasn’t possible.   
Sarah Jane turned away.   
‘They’re all right, just starting their main course,’ Rani said, replacing her phone.   
Sarah Jane shook her head, in some vain attempt to clear her mind.   
‘We can’t...We can’t tell them.’  
Rani glanced behind them.   
‘It’s gone.’


	4. Chapter 4

‘It was definitely there, we both saw it.’  
Sarah Jane folded her arms. Rani looked at her from below, on the sofa.   
‘You don’t suppose it could have been faked, as well as that call from Mum?’  
Sarah Jane paused.   
‘Something hasn’t sat... One of the Bane must have used its image translator, and... There wasn’t an energy trace.’  
‘What?’  
‘They don’t leave much of one, anyway, we know that,’ Sarah Jane continued. ‘But I don’t think my scanner went off at all in the shop.’  
‘I can scan for any recent activity in the area, Sarah Jane.’  
She nodded.   
A map of Ealing appeared on Mr Smith’s screen. Several blue lights pulsated across the map.   
‘No activity found.’  
Sarah Jane and Rani exchanged looks.   
‘Mr Smith, did you-‘  
A quiet chuckle sounded from the computer.   
‘Easily distracted, aren’t you?’ he began. ‘If the Bane been here for real, what then?  
No. No, he couldn’t be.   
‘You would have failed to stop them.’  
Sarah Jane’s eyes darted.   
‘The same way you’re going to fail to stop this.’  
A timer appeared on Mr Smith’s screen.   
15, 14, 13...  
Sarah Jane pushed Rani towards the attic door, and they bolted out, clambering down the stairs as fast as they could. They stumbled out onto the driveway, not-  
BOOM!  
The two of them flew forward, and hit the ground. Smoke and flames engulfed the house, as debris began to shower Sarah Jane and Rani. 

To Be Continued


End file.
